Lighting it up: Depleted Dover pounds Timberlane

DOVER — The Dover High School boys basketball team is beaten up and battered. But you wouldn’t know it on Friday night.

The depleted Green Wave were all over winless Timberlane, cruising to a 77-38 Division I win at Ollie Adams Gym.

“We’re still trying to figure ourselves out,” Dover coach Mike Romps said. “I think you saw some of our youth tonight, and we’re trying to bolster that because we need to get the bench a little bit stronger for the future.”

“That’s what I’m out there for,” Lupi said. “They were leaving a lot of space for me, too. A lot of other teams don’t do that.”

Four of Lupi’s six 3s came in the fourth quarter, during which he scored 14 points.

The win came at a critical time for Dover. Missing Mike Wons with a knee injury and key guards Colin Shaughnessy and Kam Towle to various foot injuries, the Green Wave improved to 5-3 with a big game coming up at home against rival Spaulding (8-1) on Thursday.

“The first half was good, but we definitely could have played better,” said Dover’s Billy Carroll. “We definitely showed that in the second half.”

Carroll and Josh Cote each scored 13 points for Dover, which was playing in just its third game in 17 days.

Dover jumped out to a 12-0 lead to start the game, and even though Timberlane closed the first quarter on an 8-2 run, the Green Wave never looked back. Dover led 14-8 after the first and 30-14 at halftime.

“Sometimes the other team isn’t as good and they’re not going to make wide-open shots,” Romps said. “But we have to make sure that we’re covering those shots. But like any team, on any given night, anything can happen.”

The Green Wave thoroughly dominated the second half, scoring the first 15 points of the third quarter. Cote, Lupi and Sean Flanagan hit 3-pointers during the frame, and Dover led 53-21 going into the fourth quarter. In all, six different players hit a 3-pointer for Dover.

Pat Mahoney was the only Timberlane player to score in the third quarter, scoring all seven of his points during the frame. Lucas Manthorn also scored seven for the Owls. All 11 players who saw time for Timberlane scored.

“Dover plays the game the right way,” first-year Timberlane coach Jeff Bauman said. “They played hard. I didn’t think we came out with our best tonight. This was a little bit of a step backwards for us tonight. We let their pressure get to us. They beat us all over the boards and we struggled with the glass.”

Seven out of Dover’s nine buckets from the field in the fourth quarter were 3-pointers. Carter Moore and Mike Wasserman got in on the act, and Karim Winn drained a baseline 3 that was well-received by the crowd.

Dover will play at Manchester West (1-8) on Tuesday, two days before its much-anticipated showdown with Spaulding.